The Baptistery: Mosaics

The mosaics in the apse

The "scarsella", the rectangular apse or chapel that contains
the altar, was the first part of the interior of the Baptistery to
be lined with mosaics. After it had been transformed from a semicircular
to a rectangular shape in 1202, the apse was decorated from 1225-28 by Fra
Jacopo (for this reason also known as "della Scarsella"); he was
the first artist to come from the newly founded Franciscan Order and was
called to work in the Baptistery by the Consuls of the Guild
of Calimala, the patrons of the Opera di San Giovanni. The monk created
mosaics of the Baptist and of the Virgin and Child enthroned with the mystic
lamb, Prophets and Patriarchs in the centre. The next mosaics to be carried
out were those in the cupola (from 1266-70 onwards). The view from the square gives
no real idea of the actual size of the pyramid-shaped roof divided into
eight segments. It is really a double construction: the outer roof rises
up from the drum (the third floor of the marble facing) while the internal
vault starts lower down, from the second floor, where the women's gallery
is situated. This method of superimposed roofing, similar to the Roman Pantheon,
was carefully studied by Brunelleschi for
his project of the cupola of the Cathedral.

The mosaics in the cupola

The internal pyramid-like vault is decorated all over with extremely beautiful
mosaics of the Last Judgement and Stories of John the Baptist, Joseph and
the Genesis. The composition is placed against a gold background in the
six concentric divisions that cut horizontally across the eight segments
(the same solution was also used later on for the fresco of the Last
Judgement by Vasari in the cupola of
the Cathedral). The episodes shown in five of the
segments are separated vertically from the others by narrow painted columns,
repeating the same kind of division into three used for the marble revestment.

Christ in Judgement

The mosaics are set in the following pattern. The central area at the top
around the opening of the lantern contains ornamental elements; this is
followed by the image of Christ surrounded by Seraphim and angelic hierarchies;
the third cycle narrates stories from the Genesis, while the fourth contains
stories of Joseph, the fifth stories of Christ, and the last stories of
the Baptist. The area of the apse is dominated by the gigantic figure of
Christ in Judgement (over eight metres high) accompanied, in the three fascias
above, by the angels announcing the Last Judgement, the Virgin Mary, John
the Baptist and the Apostles, the Resurrection of the Dead and the division
of the Blessed from the Damned, with a terrifying representation of Hell
that certainly inspired Dante when he wrote his Divine Comedy.

Coppo di Marcovaldo, Hell

The entire cycle was completed midway between the 13th and 14th centuries,
and in only a few decades, by Venetian mosaicists (real specialists in this
craft and the direct heirs of the Byzantine tradition) from designs and
cartoons provided by some of the finest artists in Florence at the time.
The Maestro della Maddalena, Meliore di Jacopo, the Maestro del San Francesco
Bardi, Gaddo Gaddi and, above all, Coppo di Marcovaldo and his pupil Cimabue,
founder of the new "Italian" style of painting, all worked here.
Coppo's powerful personality produced the figure of Christ and the portrayal
of Hell, while Cimabue apparently carried out the drawings for the stories
of Joseph. As a whole, the mosaic represents a collective display of Florentine
painting before the arrival of Giotto while signs of the new monumental
style are already recognizeable in the plastic importance of the various
groups.